Here’s a look at where the individual Buffalo Bills stand as of Friday morning, with their loss to the Cincinnati Bengals behind them and in the middle of their bye week.
Passing
Despite another low-volume performance with only 166 passing yards, Tyrod Taylor was able to pass a few inactive and/or ineffective quarterbacks to move from 28th to 23rd in the league rankings this week. He’ll probably remain ahead of a few of them, like DeShone Kizer and Mike Glennon, but some like Trevor Siemian and Derek Carr will pass him up before long.
Taylor is one of 22 quarterbacks with six touchdown passes this year. Despite throwing his second pick of the year to George Iloka at the end of the loss to the Bengals, he remains in the top third of quarterbacks in that group when it comes to avoiding turnovers. As a result, he’s tied with Russell Wilson for 14th in the NFL in passer rating (90.6) among quarterbacks with at least 50 pass attempts.
Rushing
A decent day on the ground from LeSean McCoy kept him in the mid-teens in both total rushing yards (279, 14th in NFL) and yards-per-game (55.8, 17th in NFL). Unfortunately, he’s the only top-15 running back in the NFL right now without a touchdown to his name.
After a strong couple of games on the ground to start the year, Taylor has mostly been a non-factor as a runner. He totaled one carry for three yards against the Bengals, and he’s now seventh among quarterbacks in rushing yards this year with 121. While he fell out of the top 50 runners on the year, Mike Tolbert is still hanging on up there with 135 yards, good for 45th in the NFL.
Receiving
I’m almost afraid to write anything here, given that everybody who does much of anything for the Bills as a receiver seems to end up injured these days.
Charles Clay caught two passes for 31 yards against the Bengals before suffering a meniscus injury that will sideline him for a few weeks. He’s at 36th in the NFL in receiving yards (for the time being) with 258.
Next up on the list for the Bills? McCoy, down at 75th with 189 yards receiving on a team-high 27 catches. The reception total actually ties him for 15th in the league with four other players, but the next two players on the list (Clay and Jordan Matthews) are both injured. The second-most-prolific Bill that will be active next week is Nick O’Leary, whose seven catches put him in a tie for 171st in the NFL.
Defense
With Ramon Humber on the mend, Preston Brown has taken the team lead in tackles with 38. He’s tied for 17th in the NFL with NaVorro Bowman of the 49ers and former Bills linebacker Nigel Bradham, now of the Eagles. Humber, for what it’s worth, is still tied for 20th with 37 tackles.
The only Bill that took Andy Dalton down on Sunday was Marcell Dareus, so Jerry Hughes retained the team lead in sacks with 3. That’s tied with 16 other players for 25th in the NFL.
Micah Hyde, on the other hand, took sole possession of first place in interceptions with his pick on Sunday. That was his fourth of the year, one more than Tashaun Gipson of the Jaguars and Colts rookie Malik Hooker. Even Jordan Poyer remains in a tie for fourth with two, recorded in the first three weeks of the season.
Special Teams
Brandon Tate’s huge return in the second half against the Bengals vaulted him into seventh in the NFL with 12 yards per punt return. Even with two games as a healthy scratch, Tate’s eight returns on the season are still good for a tie for 13th in that category.
Stephen Hauschka didn’t get a chance to kick any long field goals in the loss, but he did tack on three mid-range kicks. His 11 field goals this season tie him for sixth in the NFL with Ryan Succop of the Titans. He’s still tied with Detroit’s Matt Prater for first in the league with four 50-yarders, and the only kicker in striking distance of joining them played on Thursday (Jake Elliott of the Eagles).
Colton Schmidt had a decent day punting the ball, although two touchbacks put a big dent in his net yardage. His gross yardage average dropped a hair to 45.9, which keeps him in 15th in the NFL. He lost a half-yard in net average, however, and his 39.9 yards per punt is only good for 27th in the NFL.